HISTORIANA
Historiana: ‘Push’ and ‘pull’
factors keep us on the move
This is an introduction to EUROCLIO’s their countries of origin.
The peoples of Europe have played an important part in
major new web-based History teachshaping the history and development of the countries to which
ing resource.
oday we take travel for granted. they emigrated. At the same time, we must also recognise the
Now it seems unusual for people role played in the development of these countries by those
to be born, go to school, get a job people who were transported there as slaves or prisoners, and
and marry while living in one place. had no choice in the matter.
But once that was the norm with the
The second result of these population movements has
privileged few travelling. Now most been that most of us now live in multicultural communiRobert Stradling
people live in one place and work ties, particularly if we live in larger European cities. Many
in another. They will probably go to another city, or even countries include 10–15 percent of their population who are
another country, for their university education or vocational first and second generation migrants. For small states, such
training. They will most probably spend some part of their as Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and Monaco, the proportions
adult life working in another country.
can be much higher.
We regularly fly long distances to go on holiday, or for
It is very important to understand that how people living
work reasons, and we tend to forget how difficult this used in such multicultural communities perceive each other, is
to be, even in the recent past when Europe, and the world as historically conditioned. People’s perceptions change over
a whole was divided by the Cold War. The countries people time because the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that encouraged
choose to go to often reflect long-standing historical ties. migration, also change.
People from former colonies often want to live and work in
Countries where some people now complain that immithe former colonial power. They share a language, and there grants are “taking their jobs”, in fact, invited the migrants to
come and do jobs that local people are unwilling to do. Simiwill be strong cultural ties between the two countries.
However the reasons we choose to leave our homeland larly, countries that now turn away political refugees, and
and settle in another country are usually complex. Historians prefer to regard most of them as economic migrants, once
talk about ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors - pushing us to leave our had a proud record for offering protection from prosecution
and torture.
homelands, pulling us towards another country.
To understand many of the contemporary issues around
People often leave a country because they have very little
choice. They may belong to a community which is resented migration of people we need an historical perspective and we
or mistrusted by those in power. They may be trying to escape need to look at these issues comparatively. And not just from
persecution for their identity or beliefs. Or perhaps years of a national perspective. That is why we have come up with
the new idea of Historiana, as a new online tool that can help
economic hardship force them to look elsewhere.
At the same time, they may be attracted to another country give us perspective, understanding and explanation.
because of economic opportunities and the shortage of labour
there, or because of a reputation for religious and political
Dr Robert Stradling, Editor-in-Chief, Historiana
tolerance. These are the ‘pull’ factors and they can be Travel is no longer the preserve of a privileged few
just as complex when it comes to trying to understand
population migrations at any particular time in history.
There are two main results of this inward and outward migration. First, if you look at the populations
of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
and other New World countries, you will find large
numbers whose ancestors came from Europe over the
19th and 20th centuries.
You only have to pick up a telephone directory and
look at the Italian, German, French, Dutch, Russian,
Polish and Greek names. In some cases, the émigré
populations are now larger than the populations in
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